Good morning polished world! How are you all doing today? It's Friday!!! Finally. It's been a good week, but super busy. I'm excited to sleep in tomorrow. Seriously, Saturday has become my favorite day of the week!

Today I am sharing a fun pastel/neonish manicure which was inspired by this manicure by twi_star on Instagram. I have wanted to get my hands on the Color Club pastel neons, but I haven't been able to tell myself that they are worth 8 bucks. I've read some pretty nasty reviews that the formula is awful, gradients are a pain, and all around they just weren't great. After seeing twi_star's manicure using those polishes, I started to dig through my stash to see if I had anything possibly similar.

To my surprise, I had three China Glaze polishes that were perfect! Sure, they are lighter than the Color Clubs, but they worked! Let's take a look!

Colors Used:

China Glaze - Lotus Begin

China Glaze - At Vase Value

China Glaze - The Grass is Lime Greener

Acrylic Paint

Aren't the colors so pretty together?! I think my favorite of the bunch is The Grass is Lime Greener. It's a touch choice because purple and blue are my favorite colors, but this green is beyond awesome! It applied patchy for the first two coats, but on the third it was perfectly fine. Just like the other two, it dried fast so it wasn't a problem that I had to do three.

The three worked very well together to do a gradient. I was scared that they weren't going to be opaque enough and it would take forever. Just a few dabs and everything worked out rather well.

When I was done with my gradient, I went through with acrylic paint and my striper brush and added the zebra stripes. I love zebra print manicures, I really need to do more.

Good morning polished world! How are you all doing today? It's really hot here. Hot and humid. Which makes dressing up fancy for work not a fun task. At least I have plenty of fun dresses I can wear!

Today is Tuesday which means it is time for another Twinsie Tuesday. Today we are sharing manicures using techniques we love but haven't tired in a while. Honestly, I do a lot of the same techniques over and over again on this blog. I tend to stick to gradients, dots, and floral manicures. I started to think what I haven't done in a while and I haven't done a kitchen sink manicure. This is where you take a bunch of techniques, do them all, and you end up with everything but the kitchen sink.

I was inspired by a lovely nail artist on Instagram who for the life of me I cannot remember. If it was you, please, please, PLEASE, let me know because it's killing me that I can't remember. All I know is that I was inspired after I saw a Besti Twin Nails this artist did with another artist. It's annoying to me that I cannot remember two different bloggers. Ugh. I'm sorry. Please forgive me.

Let's take a look at my kitchen sink manicure with dots and a gradient!

Colors Used:

China Glaze - Too Yacht to Handle

Orly - Be Daring

Orly - Purple Crush

Orly - French White

Zoya - Cosmo

I really love how this turned out. The gradient, the dots, the textured glitter accent. Everything is perfection. I'm so proud of the multicolored dots. Every time I do dots like this with different polishes, I tend to have a drying issue where the polishes get goopy and then my dots turn into theses stringy awful looking things. There really is a science to dotting, and it's ten times easier to just do it with one color, not three.

Overall, I love the look and am so happy I did it. I miss doing kitchen sink manicures and need to do them more often. I love being able to blend a bunch of techniques together and make one gorgeous manicure.

What do you think? Fan of the look? Any idea who did this on Instagram?!

Good morning polished world! How are you all doing today?? It's time for another Bestie Twin Nails with Fashion Footing! Congratulations to our giveaway winners from last month, Amber and Megan! Thank you to everyone who entered and celebrated one year of this feature with is!

Last year when Amanda and I started this feature, we discussed doing water marble. Both of us really aren't fans of technique, but always admire different water marble manis. Finally we decided it was time to attempt a water marble.

We both were going to do purple and blue manicures using Orly polishes. Amanda was able to get hers to go successfully, however mine was a complete failure. Polish wasn't spreading, it was too bubbly when it got on the nail, and the best was when I put top coat on and it completely bled.

I didn't give up though. The next night I sat down, took some China Glaze polishes, and started working! Let's take a look!

Colors Used:

China Glaze - Plur-ple

China Glaze - DJ Blew My Mind

China Glaze - Treble Maker

INM - Northern Lights

Orly - White

For my marble nail, I started off with a base coat of white polish, Once the white was dried, I taped off my nail because I don't own any of those fancy liquid latex products. Actually, I can't use them due to all my allergies. People with dozens of allergies shouldn't use things that contain a major allergen as it might sensitize their bodies. I tried one time using a peel off-glue base coat around my nail and it made such a mess that I vowed never to do it again. Tape works perfectly fine and is cheaper.

Anyways, when I was finished taping my nail off, I started dripping my polish into my cup of room temperature water. I began with Treble Maker, then DJ Blew My Mind, ending with Plur-ple. These polishes spread like a dream! I learned a few tricks after watching YouTube tutorials and drew my design in without it all clumping together or messing up. It was glorious. I dunked my nail and ended up with a gorgeous accent!

I then went and did my thumb, which turned out more pastel than the ring finger. Not sure why....maybe I didn't drip the same amount of green in for that line? If that makes any sense.

What do you you think? Have you had luck with watermarble? Should I do more?
Make sure to check out Amanda's post!

Morning polished world! How are you all doing today?? I hope you have had a GREAT week and have an AMAZING weekend planned! I'm not so sure what I have planned yet, but I do know I will be catching up on some sleep. Honestly, I'm writing this post late Thursday night and my eyes are crossing as I type it because I am so exhausted. I need to not only work on my blogging schedule, but I also have to work on my sleep schedule!

Every summer since I have started this blog, I have created a palm tree manicure. In 2012, it was kind of a fail, 2013 was amazing, then 2014 again a fail. This year though I think it is my best ever! The palms are detailed, the gradient is very tropical sunset....all around perfect.

Let's take a look!

Colors Used:

Salon Perfect - Tickled Pink

Salon Perfect - Summer Escape

Orly - Push the Limit

Orly - French White

Orly - Instant Artist Black

I started off with a base coat of Orly French White. This polish is awesome and I think everyone should go and get it. It comes with a small brush used for french tips which makes it impossible to paint on the nail. Amanda from Fashion Footing had the brilliant idea that I should put an old brush into it so I could make it usable. Best idea ever.

When my white base was dried, I took a make up sponge and did a gradient of Push the Limit, Tickled Pink, and Summer Escape. These neons were so bright, but created the most gorgeous gradient on my nails. I think I may have to re-create the base for a tribal design in the future.

Once the gradient was how I liked it, I went through with my trusty Orly Instant Artist striper and created the palm trees. I can't really describe how I did it, so maybe I will film a tutorial to show you all! Would you be interested in that??

What do you think? Fan of this look? Something you would try on your nails? Does it make you want to go to a beach somewhere?

Please let me know if you think I should create a YouTube channel. I have some free time now so I think it might be a fun little adventure!

Good morning polished world! How are you all doing today? It is Tuesday which means it is time for yet another Twinsie Tuesday. Today we are sharing matte and shiny combo manicures. I've done one matte and shiny manicure in the past, but it really wasn't a summer themed manicure since it was done with blacks.

For today I decided to do some matte nail art. Most of the time, I do my more detailed art using acrylic paints, which as you know dry matte. Some might say that this is cheating when it comes to nail art, but I figured I paid my dues doing all polish art for years, so I can take a short cut here or there.

I took inspiration from the daisies outside of my office and painted some matte daisies on top of a shiny blue holo polish. You can kind of see the difference....maybe....I swear they're matte.

Let's take a look!

Colors Used:

Color Club - Over the Moon

Acrylic

I love my Color Club holos. I typically use them for pedicures in the summer because who wouldn't want holo toes. Plus they last forever without chipping, which is what I look for in a pedicure polish. Actually, it's what I look for in any polish. I use them sparingly though because I only own four halo hues and I don't see myself ever replacing them because they are so dang expensive. Sure, they are only ten dollars, but I'm not paying ten bucks for a bottle of polish. I just can't do it.

Anyways, they are the shiniest of shiny shimmery holos and I love them. In the sun they are fabulous as well as indoors. I had a complete disasticure last night and I'm wearing just Miss Bliss on my nails to hold me over until I can art again, and I am pretty happy with just this plain swatch.

To get the daisies, I used a stiper dipped into my acrylic paint. When they were dried, I went through with my dotting tool and yellow acrylic. I controlled myself from adding a top coat, took a photo, then added one so I could wear them for a few days.

I really loved how they turned out.

What do you think? Fan of the look? See how you really can't tell they are matte. I should have stuck to the prompt better and done what I did last year.

Good morning polished world! How are you all doing today? It's Friday!! It has been a long week so I am super excited for the weekend. Is it super old lady of me that I'm excited to sit outside on the porch swing and crochet? Yup, that's right, I'm learning how to crochet! It's fun but it gives me something to do when not painting my nails.

Today I am sharing a manicure I did a few weeks ago. This manicure was inspired by one I saw on TrendyPolish's Instagram. At least I think. I need to start writing down who and what I'm inspired by when I paint the manicures. There is another manicure I was going to post today, but I honestly cannot for the life of me figure out who inspired me so I can't post it until I figure it out. It's killing me too because it's on the tip of my tongue and I cannot figure it out!!!!

Anywho, my manicure today is a fun tape manicure. I feel like it's been awhile since I did a fun tape manicure!! Let's take a look!

Colors Used:

Orly - Skinny Dip

Orly - Be Daring

Orly - French White

Orly - Mirrorball

Love the color combo! Love my Orlys. Skinny Dip and Be Daring are so bright and fun. I did swatch both of them and they apply so evenly in two coats. I've never had a bad experience with an Orly polish. Seriously, I think they're my favorite brand right now. Close second being FingerPaints.

To get the look, I started off with a base of white polish. When that was dry, I added my nail art tape. Then with a small piece of a make up sponge, I dabbed on the purple polish. Then I went through and added the blue with another piece of sponge. I then removed the tape and was left with the cool tape design.

What do you think? Is this a design you'll ever try? Fan of Orly polishes?

Good morning polished world!! How are you all doing on this fine Tuesday? That is right, it is Tuesday again which means it is time for another Twinsie Tuesday!! Today, we are revisiting themes which we skipped or were not able to participate in because we were not a part of the group yet.

In our group, we have a list of all the themes going back to June 2012. I became a Twinsie in January of 2014, so I had a lot of themes to choose from! I went back to June 2013 and selected Inspired by Another Blogger. I stumbled across this manicure by Young, Wild and Polished a few weeks ago, and I have been thinking about it ever since. This was the perfect opportunity to re-create her manicure!

Let's take a look!

Colors Used:

China Glaze - Lilac Begin

China Glaze - UV Meant to Be

Orly - French White

INM - Northern Lights

Now, I don't have the gorgeous Picture Polish's which Nicole used, but I made due with my pretty China Glazes. I think I've already talked about my love for Lilac Begin and how happy I am that it is part of the core collection at Sally. I already need to go buy a back up. It's my favorite shade of purple that I own.

UV Meant to Be is gorgeous too. Kind of getting a little goopy and I've only used it twice. I think that sadly I'm going to have to convert this baby into a gradient only polish instead of a base one. Sigh. Maybe I got a dud bottle...hopefully they re-release it soon.

Adding Northern Lights over to the top of both of them was a brilliant idea, if I do say so myself. I have a photo on my phone that I will share on Instagram which really shows the holo sparkle goodness. I need to buy a back up bottle of this as well.

Hey everyone!!! How are you all doing today?? I'm doing quite well, especially since I have the day off from work. Don't get me wrong, I love my job, but it's good to have a three day weekend here or there. Especially since last week I worked 6 days in a row and only had Sunday off. I'm one tired girl.

Today I am taking a break from blogging and handing my blog over to Róisín from Cuti-CLUE-les! She is one of my fellow Twinsie's from Twinsie Tuesday and now is the July Nail Artist of the Month! I'm so happy to be featuring her! She has some really cute designs.

Enough of my babbling...say hello to Róisín.

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Hi all

I'm Róisín, also known as Cuti-CLUE-les, and I'm from Ireland! I'm delighted to be Alaina's nail artist of the month! I've been blogging since April 2012 which is when I started painting my nails for the first time. I quickly moved from plain nails to nail art and I've been painting ever since :)

I decided to do one of my favourite manicures at the moment for this post. It's probably the easiest design I know but it looks so good and no matter what colours you go for it'll be eye-catching. I do have a soft spot for polka dots!

Seeing as I had on a pretty neutral base, 2 coats of Barry m Gelly hi shine in Lychee,I thought I'd go all out on the tips and do a rainbow of colour using my dotting tool. The polishes I used are:

Catrice Lucky in Lilac

Sinful Colors Sugar Rush

Zoya Paz

OPI I Just can't cope-acabana

OPI Kiss me I'm Brazillian

Max Factor Red Passion

Catrice Jade is not my name

Of course you can use any kind of polishes you want. That's the best thing about this style of manicure, it's so easy to adapt it to your own tastes and it will still look beautiful.

I hope ye liked this post! Thanks so much Alaina again for letting me take over your blog for a day ;)

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Aren't these adorable?! I've always wanted to a design similar to this, but when I try my dots don't look as perfect or they blend into one big blob of color. These are just so cute.

If you want to see more of Róisín's designs, make sure to follow her blog, Facebook, and Twitter!

Good morning polished world! How are you all doing today?? It's Tuesday which means it is time for yet again another Twinsie Tuesday. This week, our theme is neon, which you know me is probably my all time favorite theme ever. Seriously, who could possibly hate neon?

Earlier this summer, well actually it was probably Spring time still, I purchased the China Glaze Electric Nights collection along with some re-releases of their old neons. Best part was that they were all buy one get one free, so I literally purchased 16 polishes for the price of about 6 bottles after discounts and such. Happiest day of my life.

Of course for the neon theme, I was going to use as many of them as possible in one manicure. While searching Instagram, I stumbled upon The Nail Trail's neon leopard manicure and I just had to copy it. Animal print + neon = love.

Amazing right? I love this manicure more than words can explain. I keep catching myself looking at my nails. The China Glaze neons were beyond perfect for this design. They're so bright and with the white base they become even brighter. I'm so happy my camera didn't freak out like I expected it to.

Pretty, pretty. I'm so proud that I was able to capture Flip Flop Fantasy true to color. That's literally a first.

What do you think? Fan of the look? Something you would do?
Don't forget to check out the other Twinsie's posts!

Good morning polished world! Happy 4th of July to all my American friends!!! I am excited because I am going to the parade today! Hopefully it doesn't rain.

Of course, you know that my nails are red white and blue! Actually, they match some of my resident's nails at the senior home I work at. Every other week, the facility has a polish spa for the women and everyone who wants gets their nails painted. A few of the ladies really wanted to have festive Fourth of July nails. Since they know my love for nails and nail art, they came to me asking for suggestions on what they should do. The night before the activity, I sat at home thinking of what simple designs I could do that would be quick and simple. I don't blame them for not wanting to sit like I do for an hour to do one design.

The first thing that came to mind was a dry brush manicure, where I would paint a white base then do red and blue swipes over the top of it. I showed the ladies what a dry brush manicure looked like and the agreed to try it. The end result, something the both loved and still cannot stop talking about.

So I decided to match my nails to theirs. Instead of doing all my nails with the dry brush design, I decided to accent it. Let's take a look.

Cute right? I'm in love with these Look polishes. The blue (Oh Say Can You See) was almost like a crelly. It applied in three coats. It really did need this because of the consistency of the polish. The red was quite nice for a red polish. If you know me, I am not a fan of reds, but this one was an exception. It applied evenly in two coats.

Last year I purchased FingerPaints Red White And Hue at Sally Beauty. I honestly forgot it existed until now, and I really wish I remembered it for Memorial Day. Unfortunately, in a years time, the red kind of bled into the clear base making it a light pink. I was happy to see that it didn't effect the white glitters.

Here's a photo of the nails I did on one of the ladies! Two weeks and she only has one chip (this photo was taken right after I finished). Not the best photo, but still you can see the dry brush!

What do you think? Fan of the look?? Something you think you would do for the fourth next year?

I'm off to enjoy the parade, some grilling, and hopefully fireworks!!! I hope everyone has a safe and happy fourth! :)

Good morning polished world! How are you all doing today? Can you believe it is already July? Where did June go? Where did Spring go? Where is summer? I think I've worn jeans and a jacket more days in the past week than I id all Spring. Sigh. What can you do?

June/July is strawberry season where I live. Due to all the rain, the fields have been really flooded, so I'm honestly not sure if they are doing the "You Pick Your Own" like they do every year. Not like I would have the time to go, life has been super busy the past few weeks.

Yes, I cheated, I used all acrylics for this design, but it was utterly impossible in my mind to use polish. I did try for one nail, but the dry time would have been ridiculous. In order to get the red in the strawberry to be opaque, it had to be blobbed, which would have meant smearing from top coat and all that lovely jazz.

So, I started off with a base of My Vampire is Buff. Three coats, but totally worth it for this gorgeous polish. I am so happy it is part of the OPI core collection! It's truly the perfect nude base for any nail art.

Once my base was dried, I used a toothpick and I drew the black outline of the strawberry. Rina has posted tutorials in the past where she starts off by creating the outline for the design, then going through and filling the design in like a coloring book. I figured that was probably how she went about creating the adorable strawberries. Once my outline was dry, I filled in the empty space with red and green acrylics. I then went through and added the dot details, finished off with a top coat, and called it a night!